Is the dominance of Western fast food coming to Laos?

[David_Loves_Ubonwan]

Is the dominance of Western fast food coming to Laos?
KFC is due to open its doors to the Lao public on Saturday.

Around the world, eating habits are changing because of the increasing popularity of fast food but will KFC change Lao eating habits?

KFC-in-Vientiane.jpg

Vientiane already has a great variety of food on offer with local stalls selling barbecued pork, chicken and duck, and roadside stalls and restaurants serving other local delicacies are seen everywhere.

Due to its former colonial background, Vientiane has always had a reputation for its good French restaurants but also has foods from other ethnic kitchens such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Italian, Japanese, and Korean.

In Vientiane there have been many inexpensive and often excellent eateries of many culinary varieties except from fast food franchises.

Until recently there have been no McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, or other international food outlets operating in Laos.

In March this year The Pizza Company and Swensen’s entered the Lao market and now KFC will open its doors on Saturday on the riverside Fa Ngum Road.

According to their US website “KFC is part of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world’s largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants, with more than 36,000 locations around the world.”

There is a Yum! fast food chicken store in Vientiane already but KFC will be the first well known name of an international fast food outlet in Laos.

It has been ‘blogged’ on different sites that what Laos needs to help improve itself globally is to provide more jobs for the people and it is suggested that more franchises like KFC will help this happen.

Lily from Duck Noodle a few doors from where KFC will open said she thought the store would be “good” for Lao people and she doesn’t think it being so close to her will affect her business.

However, some believe it would be better for more Lao franchises to ‘pop up’ around Laos.

We don’t know what the prices will be in Vientiane yet but a burger, chips and drink combo from KFC in Vietnam is VND49,000 and in Australia it is US$6.90.

Even if the prices are similar to Vietnam, which will make it around 22,000 kip, for a little under this you could probably get a much healthier food option.

At KFC a Zinger burger with cheese has a total of 23.1g of fat whereas a local cup of sticky rice can have less than 1g of fat and most papaya salads have less than 1g-8g of fat.

It has been noted that the introduction of KFC outlets throughout Asia in the past decade can be seen as a sign of development.

Some people feel fast food plays a big role in changing the traditional diets of cultures worldwide but some locals don’t think this will happen.

An older Lao lady at a riverfront food stall directly opposite where KFC will open said through an interpreter that she didn’t really care that it was opening and it wouldn’t affect her because people will always want the traditional Asian foods.

Is this first Western fast food franchise the beginning of what has been happening in countries like Vietnam for the past 10 years; will they start popping up everywhere or will the Lao people stick to eating the more traditional Lao food?

Source: Vientiane Times via: http://laovoices.com/2010/06/25/is-t...oming-to-laos/

David

[yy]

Not KFCs and MacDs again... They are not there in Feb this year and now they are going to be there for good... I'm just glad I get to catch of glimpse of Vientiane before this fast food invasion before it all becomes history. They are going to conquer the world, aren't they? To think the econ marts in Vientiane is still selling packets of frozen crickets for a quick snack. I think the crickets will soon be replaced by frozen french fries and onion rings soon, hmm...

I'm not against job creation, but not if the job creations are going to lead to health risks like high cholestrol or heart diseases... :(

[Jasonkoh82]

:( Hmm..I don't think I will dare to eat the packets of frozen crickets for a quick snack, no way...Just a prospective view of thinking fpr me, I don't think that would be fast enough to have a change of food in the local people way of life. With certain correct amount of intake, I guess french fries and onion ring do helps us...I'll also hopefully like to visit vientiane someday soon but I'm not too sure will that be possible or not...

[PaulWilding]

The trouble is there is no real traditional Lao food.

In the country Lao's eat rice with some kind a strong paste, akin to Num Prik, but in many flavours. They if they have them add seasonal vegetables to this and very very occaisionally some meat.

In the rich areas they only have foreign food, originally French and Vietnamese but now diversifying.

12 years ago I lived in Vientaine, there wasn't many restaurants and practically no street eats. There was either foriegn restaurants, baguettes or Vietnamese noodle soup.

A couple of years ago I went back and what people seemed to be peceiving as Lao food was simply a local version of Thai food. Meat with a few veges over rice, in no way traditionally Lao. This was sold in all tourist restaurants.

[KhunDavid]

An interesting post, David! KFC - a Sign of the times?

I agree entirely with the comments about the (lack of) nutritional value and high fat content of western foods, however, I have also seen chicken/fish and meats done to death on street side barbecues! Which is worse?

Everyone, including Asians, appreciates cleanliness. Toilets. Hand washing facilities. AIR CON!!

Western establishments provide these services, Mom and Pop stores and traditional eateries do not. Of course, they never have!

Look at 7/11 in Thailand. They have literally driven out the small Thai shopkeeper. Tesco Lotus is now killing retail with Homebase, Ikea and the likes hot on their heels.

The answer should have been for local businesses to improve their services, but capital costs probably excluded that possibility.

We are just seeing glimpses of the future.

Is the west really so bad? In my area (the NW of the UK) markets teem with SPECIALIST producers, there are many SUPERB pubs and eating places that serve healthy, creative and scrummy food! Sure, the high street is chocablock with franchises as we even now see in Thailand and soon in Vientianne, but the fun will be seeking out those special places. They will emerge.

That's called progress, too!